Cessna 172M N5461Q

Summary

On 16 July 2009 at about 05:35 local time, a Cessna 172M registered N5461Q, operated by Round Top Flyers LLC, was involved in an accident near Thermopolis, Wyoming, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 July 2009 at 05:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Thermopolis, Wyoming, United States

Coordinates

43.5086, -108.0781

Aircraft

Cessna 172M

Registration

N5461Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Round Top Flyers LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lander → Thermopolis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

WPR09CA348

1 person was seriously injured.

The instructor pilot's failure to ensure that his dual student maintained clearance from the terrain during a dark night visual flight rules descent.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot and his instructor were returning to their home airport after a visual flight rules (VFR) night cross-country instructional fight. During the last segment of the flight, as the student was descending toward the airport, the airplane's wheels contacted the terrain on a ridge about nine miles from the planned destination, and about 1,650 feet higher than the airport elevation. Although the airplane initially rolled across the terrain at a high rate of speed, it soon encountered the elevated edge of a dirt road. The contact with the road edge resulted in a loss of control of the airplane and further contact with the terrain. The sequence of events resulted in substantial damage to the airplane's fuselage. Although the sky was clear with no restrictions to visibility, it was a dark night with no moonlight, and neither pilot saw the terrain prior to the accident. Although the instructor pilot did not specifically remember an unusual rate of descent or any sense of the airplane sinking, it was his opinion that a "mountain wave downwash" may have contributed to the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.